Several prior art connectors have been proposed for the attachment of electrical cables to panels or electrical boxes. Some of these include a tubular body with a cavity on the trailing end and a split ring that is inserted within the cavity. Typically the split ring includes one or more cable gripping tangs for securing a cable to the trailing end of the connector. As a result of the limited space within the cavity, the length of the cable gripping tangs is limited. Thus the cable gripping tangs must be relatively short, making the tangs stiff and less flexible, which translates to a higher than desired amount of force required to insert a cable into the trailing end of the electrical connector.
An electrical fitting having an improved arrangement on the trailing end for the attachment of electrical cables was disclosed in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/300,859, which is commonly owned by the assignee of the present invention and the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference thereto. Instead of the split ring being located within the tubular body as shown in the prior art, the improved arrangement included single or tandem cable gripping tangs that are fastened externally to the tubular body and therefore are easily accessible.
The present invention provides a duplex electrical fitting that incorporates the several advantages of the electrical fitting of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/300,859. The duplex electrical fitting includes increased space to allow enhanced flexing of the cable gripping tangs. With the duplex fitting of the present invention, the movement of the cable gripping tangs is much less restricted when a cable is secured thereto to the trailing end of the connector. The duplex electrical connector of the present invention thereby enables easier insertion of electrical cables to the trailing end of the connector and thereby enables the electrical fitting to accommodate a wider range of cable sizes.